Technologies Employed The National Survey of Student Engagement mostly employs the use of web services and more recently, mobile technologies, such as smartphones to administer surveys and collect data.
Students taking the NSSE were originally recruited via email with an access link to the online survey. However, more recently, NSSE has adopted more options customizable to institutions. Participating colleges and universities may now choose to post links to their internal student web platforms and learning management systems like Blackboard. NSSE found success with these methods after conducting random experiments with a variety of institutions, gaining significant responses from participants. Upon achieving such success, they suggest that all participating institutions try administering the survey through a LMS or online portal.
Beginning in 2016, NSSE introduced an optimized survey for students, after finding that a majority would access the survey on either their smartphone or tablet. The creation of a mobile survey happened as a result of the number of students using mobile devices to complete the original web-based survey increasing 23% from 2011-2015.
Building the optimized survey experience took 2 years, spanning 2013-2015. NSSE’s goal was to create a survey experience for users that was easily read and feasibly navigated on a mobile device. They also sought to improve the quality of data while maintaining psychometric properties. They ultimately met this goal and found that in comparison to users without the optimized experience, those with optimized smartphones were able to complete the NSSE faster, experienced less hassle, and viewed the experience as favorable.
Effectiveness of Communication The changing nature of society with trends toward online participation in almost everything contributes to why NSSE prefers to recruit via emails with the survey link and purpose of the study. Students are recruited to complete the survey with 5 emails, regardless of the survey being administered by an individual institution or by NSSE directly.
The instructions for completing the NSSE are very clear-cut and ask participants to answer, intervally and nominally, a series of close ended questions that see students choosing from a list of alternatives, which is consistent with best practices for effective quantitative assessments.
Questions span 10 engagement indicators and 6 high-impact practices that seek to provide, for students, parents, and universities, a comprehensive snapshot of how full-time undergraduate college students navigate aspects of their college experience. The answer choices range from satisfied to dissatisfied, with all having “not applicable” as a choice, which removes ambiguity and provides those looking to the data for informed decisions, clear and concise data.
The National Survey of Student Engagement mostly employs the use of web services and more recently, mobile technologies, such as smartphones to administer surveys and collect data.
Students taking the NSSE were originally recruited via email with an access link to the online survey. However, more recently, NSSE has adopted more options customizable to institutions. Participating colleges and universities may now choose to post links to their internal student web platforms and learning management systems like Blackboard. NSSE found success with these methods after conducting random experiments with a variety of institutions, gaining significant responses from participants. Upon achieving such success, they suggest that all participating institutions try administering the survey through a LMS or online portal.
Beginning in 2016, NSSE introduced an optimized survey for students, after finding that a majority would access the survey on either their smartphone or tablet. The creation of a mobile survey happened as a result of the number of students using mobile devices to complete the original web-based survey increasing 23% from 2011-2015.
Building the optimized survey experience took 2 years, spanning 2013-2015. NSSE’s goal was to create a survey experience for users that was easily read and feasibly navigated on a mobile device. They also sought to improve the quality of data while maintaining psychometric properties. They ultimately met this goal and found that in comparison to users without the optimized experience, those with optimized smartphones were able to complete the NSSE faster, experienced less hassle, and viewed the experience as favorable.
Effectiveness of Communication
The changing nature of society with trends toward online participation in almost everything contributes to why NSSE prefers to recruit via emails with the survey link and purpose of the study. Students are recruited to complete the survey with 5 emails, regardless of the survey being administered by an individual institution or by NSSE directly.
The instructions for completing the NSSE are very clear-cut and ask participants to answer, intervally and nominally, a series of close ended questions that see students choosing from a list of alternatives, which is consistent with best practices for effective quantitative assessments.
Questions span 10 engagement indicators and 6 high-impact practices that seek to provide, for students, parents, and universities, a comprehensive snapshot of how full-time undergraduate college students navigate aspects of their college experience. The answer choices range from satisfied to dissatisfied, with all having “not applicable” as a choice, which removes ambiguity and provides those looking to the data for informed decisions, clear and concise data.